medicaid enhancement tax

This week All Things Considered has been looking back at some of the major legislative debates this session at the New Hampshire statehouse.

The Medicaid Enhancement Tax usually flies under the radar in New Hampshire: it’s complicated, boring on the surface and, as far as taxes go, pretty narrowly applied.

But the MET, as it's called, has major implications for the state budget and the state’s 26 hospitals. And debate over how to fix the MET gained plenty of attention this year, becoming one of the biggest policy issues lawmakers took on in 2014.

The first public meeting between House and Senate negotiators working to fix the state’s Medicaid enhancement tax lasted all of 20 minutes, but parties are optimistic a deal can be struck.

Representative Cindy Rosenwald, a Nashua Democrat, used the hearing to reiterate the House’s position that despite court rulings declaring the tax unlawful, the New Hampshire Supreme Court will see otherwise.

“We continue to believe that our Medicaid enhancement tax is constitutional,” Rosenwald told colleagues. She says it adheres to both federal and state law.